Mind the gap on the way to Piccadilly

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OK, so here goes another attempt at a lightning quick recap of my lightning quick days in London.

As I said before, my hostel was right in the middle of everything. As my guidebook says, London is the DC, NYC, and LA of England all in one city. And my hostel is right in the middle of LA (and maybe a little NYC). Piccadilly Circus is THE place to be, apparently. At night it gets so busy it's hard to walk at times. And not only is it overflowing - almost literally - with people, it's overflowing with exceptionally well-dressed people. My first night here I was just wandering around the area, and I think I was the only person I saw wearing a plain t-shirt. Out of thousands. It felt a little strange.

Luckily, I found out that not everywhere is quite as fashionable as Piccadilly. When I traveled to the more touristy areas I was able to find some peasants like myself. It's interesting because when I think of the word "tourist" my initial image is definitely an American in a white t-shirt and white shoes. But all over Europe, and here in London especially, there are tourists from all over. Italy, Spain, Asia, India, Australia, you name it. Oh - and France. Especially France. I feel like I hear as many people speaking French here as I do English... very surprising. Although I think this past weekend/Monday were some kind of holiday here, so people were on breaks and took trips to London or something... also explains the extreme masses of people I've seen. Tonight isn't as bad, which makes sense if everyone had to go back home.

On a random new thread now, the hostel I'm in is pretty cool. It has 700 beds I think, which is definitely the most I've seen everywhere. Also, it manages to keep from getting out-of-control crazy with all those people because there's so much around the area there's no reason to be in the hostel really. I've been rooming with 3 guys from Holland the whole time I've been here, and they're really cool guys. I usually only saw them in the morning and at night, but we all went out for a while and talked about where we're from, where we've been, and how unbelievably expensive everything in London is. It was definitely fun to get to know some Europeans during my time alone.

As for the city of London itself... well, it's pretty unbelievable. There's just sooooo much stuff. I spent almost every waking hour since I got here trying to see everything I could and I think I may have gotten to about half. In the interest of my time I'll break it down into a quick list:

Tower of London - Fascinating history and awesome old castle. Oh, a diamond the size of my fist in one of the Crown Jewels too
Shakespeare Globe - Alas! I had been so excited at the prospect of seeing a Shakespeare play performed in the Globe, only to be told when arriving they were sold out until September 7. What a tragedy. I did get a tour of the theater, though, which was very interesting and entertaining. I will definitely have to come back for a play... Maybe when it's Hamlet
Winston Churchill Museum - This was a really interesting and in-depth look at Mr. Churchill, definitely a worthwhile 2 hours
British Museum - Saw, among other things, the Magna Carta and lots of mummies. Awesome collection of artifacts.
Tate Modern - Modern Art collection, which isn't really my thing, but I learned a lot and saw some stuff that I really liked
National Gallery - Incredible art collection, including lots of Impressionism. If Jason reads this, yes, I agree with you, Impressionism is awesome.
Walk through the West End - Piccadilly, Leicester (theatre, red carpet, etc.), Oxford Circus (huge shopping and fashion), Soho (the are with "character") - all within minutes of me.

I also saw Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Regents' Park, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, Leicester Square... probably others I can't recall right now. It's been a busy 60 hours or so. I don't have time to elaborate on any more, but it's really been a fascinating experience. Hopefully I can come back during the semester and explore a little more.

Have to go now, and tomorrow morning I'm off to the airport again to meet my friends Josh and Kristin.

Then off to France!
(trumpets, fanfare, etc.)
I'm excited for France.

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Photos

Trafalgar Square
For the olympics they set up a huge tv screen and were broadcasting it live right in the middle of Trafalgar Square

Rosetta Stone
This is in the British Museum, a really cool museum. In my blog I accidently say Magna Carta, but I meant the Rosetta Stone.

Parthenon
These statues come from the Parthenon - this was also in the British Museum

Africa Exhibition
Also British Museum. There's a really cool organization working in Africa right now that lets people exchange any guns they have or find for tools and other items. Sometimes whole villages will pool together and get a tractor or some machinery. Then the arms are given to artists who use them to make things like this and promote the program. A really cool way to bring down violence I thought.

Baker Street
Residence of Mr. Holmes

Apple Store
This picture is just to show what the buildings are like in London. There's a city order that the old buildings all have to be preserved, so you get shopping stores inside these awesome buildings - like this picture of the Apple Store.

Piccadilly Circus
Where my hostel was. It was a pretty happening place, and it actually gets much more crowded than in this photo, but that's later at night when I wouldn't be able to get a picture. It's pretty much the Times Square of London.

Big Ben
This is the view you get when you exit the Underground.

Winston Churchill
A statue of Churchill that stays lit all night. By his request it also has an electric current going through it, so that pigeons don't get it all dirty.

The London Eye
The huge Ferris Wheel in the middle of London. I never went up, but I heard it's really cool.

Globe Theater
The outside of the Shakespeare Globe

Cool Poster
This was up in the Shakespeare Globe, and I thought it was really cool.

Globe Theater
I didn't get to see a play in the theater but I did get a tour, which was still really cool. They were setting up for the new play they had, and that's why there's construction stuff in it.

Tower of London
The Tower of London from the exterior

White Tower
The central tower in the Tower of London

Execution Stuff
Kind of gruesome, but that's the axe that executed the Lady Jane Grey

Tower Bridge
This iconic bridge is NOT the London Bridge, the London Bridge is actually quite boring. Most people (me included) think of the Tower Bridge when they hear London Bridge.

Comments

[Liz]

AHH! School started today...I miss Europe SOO much...and maybe you :D Sadly they worked out the whole ticket mess so I kind of had to get on the plane after all. Keep the good times rolling though - I cannot wait to hear all about glorious France!!!

[Claire]

Hi Josh I hope you will be able to give more details next time ! especially about your impressions about France. Yes it was a French holiday last Friday so French had a 3-day weekend. Enjoy !